Jaime Petrus, Jacqueline Balungi, Sebastian Wanless
{"title":"COVID-19 Ignited a Successful Growth Spurt in Pediatric HIV Differentiated Service Delivery Programming.","authors":"Jaime Petrus, Jacqueline Balungi, Sebastian Wanless","doi":"10.1007/s40475-022-00276-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Pediatric HIV differentiated service delivery (DSD) programming has historically lagged behind adult care despite WHO recommendations to include family-friendly alternatives for children and caregivers. This review explores the status of Pediatric DSD programming before the COVID-19 pandemic and then reviews published differentiated approaches that developed during the pandemic.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Differentiated service delivery programming for adults living with HIV has increased worldwide, and patient outcomes from these programs have been positive. Pediatric DSD programming has lagged, with many children ineligible for multi-month refills. Despite WHO recommendations to space ART visits for children, limited access to viral load monitoring and a lack of viral suppression among children have left them out of this more convenient care option. Community ART groups historically were not structured to include children. Furthermore, after-hours clinics and teen clubs with ART dispensing have not reached the majority of CLHIV.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>This review highlights programs that developed out of necessity during the lockdowns of the pandemic. Ingenuity and creativity forced programmers to provide care to their patients with less patient-clinician interaction. Children became eligible for multi-month dispensing as programs loosened eligibility criteria. Technology helped provide virtual psychological support, and unique ART delivery methods were developed. This rapid expansion or growth spurt, of pediatric DSD programming sped up the inclusion of children into care options that were less burdensome to the family. As we move away from the pandemic and adjust to a new standard, we will remain diligent in ensuring that CLHIV outcomes remain stable or perhaps, improve.</p>","PeriodicalId":37441,"journal":{"name":"Current Tropical Medicine Reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9702760/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Tropical Medicine Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-022-00276-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose of review: Pediatric HIV differentiated service delivery (DSD) programming has historically lagged behind adult care despite WHO recommendations to include family-friendly alternatives for children and caregivers. This review explores the status of Pediatric DSD programming before the COVID-19 pandemic and then reviews published differentiated approaches that developed during the pandemic.
Recent findings: Differentiated service delivery programming for adults living with HIV has increased worldwide, and patient outcomes from these programs have been positive. Pediatric DSD programming has lagged, with many children ineligible for multi-month refills. Despite WHO recommendations to space ART visits for children, limited access to viral load monitoring and a lack of viral suppression among children have left them out of this more convenient care option. Community ART groups historically were not structured to include children. Furthermore, after-hours clinics and teen clubs with ART dispensing have not reached the majority of CLHIV.
Summary: This review highlights programs that developed out of necessity during the lockdowns of the pandemic. Ingenuity and creativity forced programmers to provide care to their patients with less patient-clinician interaction. Children became eligible for multi-month dispensing as programs loosened eligibility criteria. Technology helped provide virtual psychological support, and unique ART delivery methods were developed. This rapid expansion or growth spurt, of pediatric DSD programming sped up the inclusion of children into care options that were less burdensome to the family. As we move away from the pandemic and adjust to a new standard, we will remain diligent in ensuring that CLHIV outcomes remain stable or perhaps, improve.
期刊介绍:
Current Tropical Medicine Reports provides expert views on recent advances in the field of tropical medicine in a clear and readable form. This journal offers reviews by domestic and international contributors that highlight the most important, recent papers and findings related to this specific field. We accomplish this by appointing renowned leaders in major tropical medicine subject areas to select topics addressing virology, bacteriology, parasitology, entomology, immunology, cell and molecular biology, epidemiology, ecology, behavioral science and clinical medicine for review by experts who assess the latest developments and highlight significant papers published over the last few years on their topics. These review articles also stress recently published papers of importance in the references, which are accompanied by annotations explaining their importance. In addition to these Section Editors, our international Editorial Board ensures our journal upholds its standards.